China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2024 05-13

 Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
5/20................................................................................................................................................5/13

This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation. 

As for interpreting the translation, unless you have been studying calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing (almost any "it" you will see). There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years. And do not assume that people from China understand the traditional calendar particularly well, either. I have encountered confusion and furrowed brows for countless items in the calendar. It can seem "remote," in other words, from the world we live in these days, and yet it is printed anew every single year.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese.

                                     Section One

                                Solar Calendar Date

                                (top to bottom, right to left)

十

三

一期星

Fifth Month, Thirteenth Day

Monday, May 13

————

 Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天天三天

醫喜合貴

Heavenly Nobility

Three Linkages

Heavenly Happiness

Heavenly Physician

————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰甲

中中吉

酉巳乙

吉吉中

戌午寅

凶吉中

亥未卯

凶凶凶

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

 01:00-03:00 In-Between

 03:00-05:00 In-Between

 05:00-07:00 Inauspicious

07:00-09:00 In-Between

  09:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 Auspicious

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌

移足整理

徙甲手髮

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Manicure

Pedicures

Moving Residences

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

六

丁

丑

水

危

成

Sixth Day (Fourth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: dingchou (14/60)

Phase (element): Water

"Constellation Personality: Danger (12/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

作修納入

灶造采學

修動裁會

倉土衣友

納上醫出

畜樑病行

安安開訂

葬門市婚

忌歸

招厭四牛

搖對擊口

Appropriate Activities

(top down, starting on the right; two characters each)

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

 Going Out (and about)

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing

Physician Visits

Opening Markets

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Gates

Stove Work

Repairing Granaries

Livestock Payments

 Positioning Graves

Return Taboo

Baleful Asterisms

(top down, starting on the right; two characters each)

Ox Orifice

Four Fisticuffs

Mutual Repression 

Rollicking Braggadocio

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" directly below each character)

白 山

White, Mountain

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English,

however, "fits" intuitively in the configuration of characters)

厠 庫 倉

Toilet, Storehouse, Granary